COVID-19 Returned to the Top Five Telehealth Diagnoses Nationally in November 2021

Telehealth Utilization Increased Nationally and in All Four Census Regions When Comparing November to October 2021, according to FAIR Health's Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker

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FAIR Health

Feb 03, 2022, 09:36 ET

NEW YORK, Feb. 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- After having been absent for two months from the national top five telehealth diagnoses, COVID-19 returned to the list in November 2021, ranking in fifth place at 1.4 percent of telehealth claim lines,¹ according to FAIR Health's Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker. The data represent the privately insured population, including Medicare Advantage and excluding Medicare Fee-for-Service and Medicaid.

In the Northeast, COVID-19 also returned to the top five telehealth diagnoses at fifth place in November; it had not been listed in that region since January 2021. In the Midwest, where it had not been listed since September, COVID-19 returned to the top five telehealth diagnoses at third place in November. November was the month when the highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19 was first detected in the United States.

Nationally, substance use disorders fell out of the top five telehealth diagnoses in November to make way for COVID-19. In the Northeast and Midwest, joint/soft tissue diseases and issues dropped out of the top five. Encounter for examination dropped from third place to fifth place in the top five telehealth diagnoses in the South. There were no changes in the rankings of top five telehealth diagnoses in the West.

Increase in Telehealth Utilization
Telehealth utilization increased 7.3 percent nationally in November 2021, rising from 4.1 percent of all medical claim lines in October to 4.4 percent in November. This increase followed a decline of 6.8 percent in October. In November, telehealth utilization also increased in every census region (Midwest, Northeast, South and West), with the greatest increase (8.3 percent) in the Northeast.

Changes in Procedure Code Rankings
In the rankings of the top five telehealth procedure codes nationally and in the Midwest, CPT^®2 99213, 20-29-minute established patient outpatient visit, and CPT 99214, 30-39-minute established patient outpatient visit, switched places in November 2021. Both nationally and in the Midwest, CPT 99214 had been in second place and CPT 99213 in third place in October; in November, CPT 99213 moved to second place and CPT 99214 to third place.

About the Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker
Launched in May 2020 as a free service, the Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker uses FAIR Health data to track how telehealth is evolving from month to month. An interactive map of the four US census regions allows the user to view an infographic on telehealth in a specific month in the nation as a whole or in individual regions. Each infographic shows month-to-month changes in volume of telehealth claim lines, top five telehealth procedure codes and top five telehealth diagnoses (or diagnostic categories), along with that month's top five granular diagnoses within the most common diagnostic category.

FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd stated: "As the COVID-19 pandemic and telehealth utilization continue to evolve, FAIR Health's Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker serves as a window into that evolution. This is one of the many ways we pursue our healthcare transparency mission."

For the Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker, click here.

About FAIR Health
FAIR Health is a national, independent nonprofit organization that qualifies as a public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code. It is dedicated to bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information through data products, consumer resources and health systems research support. FAIR Health possesses the nation's largest collection of private healthcare claims data, which includes over 35 billion claim records and is growing at a rate of over 2 billion claim records a year. FAIR Health licenses its privately billed data and data products—including benchmark modules, data visualizations, custom analytics and market indices—to commercial insurers and self-insurers, employers, providers, hospitals and healthcare systems, government agencies, researchers and others. Certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as a national Qualified Entity, FAIR Health also receives data representing the experience of all individuals enrolled in traditional Medicare Parts A, B and D; FAIR Health includes among the private claims data in its database, data on Medicare Advantage enrollees. FAIR Health can produce insightful analytic reports and data products based on combined Medicare and commercial claims data for government, providers, payors and other authorized users. FAIR Health's systems for processing and storing protected health information have earned HITRUST CSF certification and achieved AICPA SOC 2 compliance by meeting the rigorous data security requirements of these standards. As a testament to the reliability and objectivity of FAIR Health data, the data have been incorporated in statutes and regulations around the country and designated as the official, neutral data source for a variety of state health programs, including workers' compensation and personal injury protection (PIP) programs. FAIR Health data serve as an official reference point in support of certain state balance billing laws that protect consumers against bills for surprise out-of-network and emergency services. FAIR Health also uses its database to power a free consumer website available in English and Spanish, which enables consumers to estimate and plan for their healthcare expenditures and offers a rich educational platform on health insurance. An English/Spanish mobile app offers the same educational platform in a concise format and links to the cost estimation tools. The website has been honored by the White House Summit on Smart Disclosure, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), URAC, the eHealthcare Leadership Awards, appPicker, Employee Benefit News and Kiplinger's Personal Finance. FAIR Health also is named a top resource for patients in Dr. Marty Makary's book The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care—and How to Fix It and Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal's book An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back. For more information on FAIR Health, visit fairhealth.org.

1	A claim line is an individual service or procedure listed on an insurance claim.
2	CPT © 2021 American Medical Association (AMA). All rights reserved.